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Empedocles Arbiter Symposii : Luxury, Political Equality, and Bizarre Dinner Parties in Fifth-Century Acragas *

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Empedocles Arbiter Symposii : Luxury, Political Equality, and Bizarre Dinner Parties in Fifth-Century Acragas * Histos () – EMPEDOCLES ARBITER SYMPOSII : LUXURY, POLITICAL EQUALITY, AND BIZARRE DINNER PARTIES IN FIFTH-CENTURY ACRAGAS * Abstract: This paper analyses Empedocles’ contribution to Sicilian politics as described by the ancient sources cited by Diogenes Laertius. It offers a close analysis of a bizarre anecdote by Timaeus ( FGrHist F ), where Empedocles got rid of a potential tyrant to preserve political equality, also in the light of other ancient accounts in which Empedocles is de- scribed as a man of his people. Keywords : Empedocles, Timaeus, Diogenes Laertius, ancient biography, tyranny . Introduction: The Philosophers’ Lives between Facts and Fiction ncient biographies of the Presocratic thinkers, which can be consulted primarily in the kaleidoscopic collection by Diogenes Laertius, are often overlooked and labelled as the product of a frighteningly vivid A 1 imagination. Arguably, it is not possible to sketch a faithful biography for these individuals on the basis of such unreliable information. Among Greek philosophers, Empedocles of Acragas has unsurprisingly attracted consistent biographical interest: both the diverse expertise displayed in his poetry, covering physics, zoology, medicine, and religion, and his claimed abilities to resuscitate a dead body and to manipulate the weather (B D–K = D L– M), are especially enthralling. The coexistence of rational as well as irrational skills, together with his charismatic aura, inevitably piqued curiosity about his life in later ages. This article will argue that, while biographical information * This paper was originally delivered at the Sixth Biennal Conference of the International Association for Presocratic Studies, held in Delphi in June I. My thanks go to Lisa Irene Hau, Enrico Emanuele Prodi, Jessica Romney, Stefan Schorn, GertJan Verhasselt, and to the Journal’s editors and anonymous readers for their helpful comments. I am most grateful to Robert L. Fowler for reading several drafts, for his advice and encouragement. Citations of Empedoclean (and of other early Greek philosophers’) text are from both Diels–Kranz and Laks–Most, whereas citations of ancient testimonia are only from Laks–Most. 1 Diogenes wrote between the second and the third century CE and mostly relied, probably second-hand, on Hellenistic biographies: see Arrighetti (IL), Goulet ( ) L– , Grau I GuiJarro () –IL, Hägg () L–I, Fletcher and Hanink () –I. For his chronology and for modern literature on the problem, see Jouanna (), who proposes to place Diogenes’ floruit in the mid-third century CE (one generation after Sextus Empiricus). ISSN: - Copyright © Ilaria Andolfi October Empedocles Arbiter Symposii L about Empedocles does not provide a historically accurate account, it is nonetheless relevant for understanding the reception of the philosopher’s personality and the environment in which this portrait emerged. Empedocles was in antiquity regarded not only as a philosopher, but also as a poet (as Diogenes remarks, I.L–I). 2 It has become a staple of modern scholarship that ancient biographers used to distil most of their information about the poets from their own poems: Aristotle and his students, for example, were especially keen to exploit the poets’ verses when dealing with their lives. 3 In addition, such biographies also serve as forms of exegesis and provide a key to understanding how the poets’ work was later interpreted, as demonstrated by the seminal studies of Lefkowitz and Graziosi.4 Similarly, bits of philo- sophical doctrine could be exploited for biographical needs: ancient philosophy was actually deemed to be a ‘way of life’, i.e., an art of living aimed at self-improvement, and philosophers were supposed to behave in conformity with their own precepts, especially from the Hellenistic age onwards. 5 Even earlier, one can legitimately detect a Pythagorean ‘way of life’: suffice it to think of dietary restrictions (e.g., beans and certain animals) and of the zealous observance of specific religious rituals. 6 Therefore, biographers like Diogenes Laertius would have found it very tempting to discover consistency between the life and the doctrines of early philosophers, who perhaps did not yet conceive philosophical investigation as a ‘way of life’. 7 2 Poets’ lives have already been subJected to thorough critical analysis pinpointing the sources, methods, and aims of their construction. Fundamental is the approach outlined in Lefkowitz (), who has consistently argued for the fictionality of the poets’ lives. Kivilo () agrees with Lefkowitz’s overall picture but believes that we can grasp something true about the poets’ lives from the extant biographical material. For an orientation about philosophers’ lives, see Grau I GuiJarro () L– and the papers collected in Bonazzi and Schorn (). 3 As demonstrated by Arrighetti (IL) L–L. Cf. the passages listed in Horky () I n. 4 On this further point of utmost relevance, see Lefkowitz () and Graziosi () on Homer’s lives. 5 Hadot () described ancient philosophy as antithetical to modern philosophy: while the latter’s target is purely specialists, the former developed a message for all humankind, an actual art of living ( manière de vivre ). See also the collection of essays in Chase–Clark– McGhee ( ). 6 The extant ancient accounts about the Pythagorean diet unfortunately are not consistent with one another: for a thorough overview of Pythagorean precepts, see Gemelli Marciano (). For ‘philosophy as a way of life’ as a useful category to approach Pythagorean (and also Empedoclean) ethics, see Macris ( ) esp. –I. 7 Similar remarks in Warren (L) , , with stress on the Greek way of life. However, he does not go so far as to claim that this conception of ‘philosophy as a way of life’ might lie behind Diogenes’ choice to structure his doxographical exposition in the form of biography. Diogenes himself, when talking about the Cynics (. ), refers to the opinion I Ilaria Andolfi However, despite Empedocles’ reputation as a charismatic spiritual guide spawned by his self-presentation in his poems, 8 not all biographical narratives are incontrovertibly inspired by his verses. For example, the most famous and fascinating episode of his life, namely his suicidal dive into the Etna volcano, was probably not directly (and not only) inspired by specific passages of his poetry. 9 Narratives of that kind are indeed not rare when it comes to the death of larger than life individuals. 10 Consequently, once Empedocles attained the status of an exceptional man, such recurring themes could well be applied to his life. Although it is often not possible to recover trustworthy information in Diogenes’ sometimes random mishmash of information, it can be profitable to read such evidence against the historical and intellectual backdrop that informed it. A deeper understanding of the environment(s) shaping these narratives promises to pay double, both shedding light on the sources’ literary agendas and allowing us a glimpse of the history and the society of a particular moment in time. In what follows, I discuss a section of Empedocles’ biography by Diogenes (I. –, L) where the portrait of ‘Empedocles the democrat’ emerges. Hellenistic biographers like Timaeus of Tauromenium and Xanthus of Lydia mostly inform these paragraphs. Horky has argued that Timaeus of Tauro- menium portrayed Empedocles as a ‘staunch defender of democracy’, in direct response to Aristotle, who believed him to actually have anarchist inclina- tions. 11 I argue against this interpretation and offer a re-assessment of this passage both in the light of Timaeus’ historiographical practice and of the Sicilian historical setting. 12 according to which they were not to be considered as a ‘school’ ( αἵρεσις ) proper, but only as sharing a specific ‘way of life’ ( ἔντασις βίου ). On this and similar cases, see Verhasselt () –. 8 Esp. in B D–K = D L–M and B D–K = D L–M. 9 As Lapini ( ) I– and n. at has keenly observed. Differently, Chitwood () I– explains all the narratives as based on the four roots theory. Bidez (I) – and Kingsley (a) –LL offer more nuanced treatments, focusing on the purificatory function of fire. 10 Grau I GuiJarro () – offers a thorough overview of such recurring narrative patterns in Diogenes’ lives, including those about miracles and deaths. 11 Horky () . 12 Timaeus came from Sicily, so he must have known the local background of that time very well. Murray (L) has effectively described Timaeus as ‘the Herodotus of the West’, since the scope of his work encompassed various aspects of cultural history. Regrettably, Timaeus’ history has come down to us only in fragmentary form, and, as a consequence, many issues about his literary production are open to great speculation. For his treatment of Pythagoras and Empedocles, see, to name but a few, Brown (I) –, Pearson (IL) –I, Vattuone () – , and Baron ( ) I–, who stresses the limits of our knowledge due to the tendentious selection by the intermediate authors of Empedocles Arbiter Symposii . Empedocles, his Biographers, and Political Life in Fifth Century Acragras As anticipated, according to Diogenes Laertius Empedocles cuts a figure of considerable influence in fifth-century Acragas. Tellingly, all the sources quoted (Aristotle, Xanthus of Lydia, Neanthes of Cyzicum, and Timaeus of Tauromenium) nod towards a representation of Empedocles as opposing the tyrant archetype. The core of this section is, without doubt, the obscure episode of the dinner party described in detail by Timaeus (Diog. Laert. I. – = FGrHist F ), who tells the story of how Empedocles, a member of Acragas’ aristocracy (Diog. Laert. I. = P I L–M), was once invited to a symposium together with the magistrates of the city. Even if this passage has been generally dismissed as a humorous tale with no value, yet Timaeus (and Diogenes) knew it as the ἀρχή of Empedocles’ political involvement: φησὶ δ’ αὐτὸν [scil. Ἐµπεδοκλέα] καὶ Ἀριστοτέλης [fr. Rose = de poet. *F L Janko] ἐλεύθερον γεγονέναι καὶ πάσης ἀρχῆς ἀλλότριον, εἴ γε τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτῷ διδοµένην παρῃτήσατο, καθάπερ Ξάνθος [FGrHist L F ] ἐν τοῖς περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγει, τὴν λιτότητα δηλονότι πλέον ἀγαπήσας . () τὰ δ’ αὐτὰ καὶ Τίµαιος εἴρηκε, τὴν αἰτίαν ἅµα παρατιθέµενος τοῦ δηµοτικὸν εἶναι τὸν ἄνδρα.
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